If you are a loving pet owner like myself, you might share in one of my biggest fears: losing my fur baby! Our pets can sneak out the front door, squeeze out of a fence, or even be stolen. It has been statistically proven that 1 in 3 pets become lost at some point in their lives. For this reason, we should take some preventive measures to protect our pet’s safety. Microchipping your dog or cat is a safe and effective tool that often reunites lost pets with their hopeful owners and can provide you with extra peace of mind as the pet owner.
How Do Microchips Work?
About the size of a grain of rice, microchips are transponders that carry the identification number of your fur baby, and are usually injected in between their shoulder blades. It is important to note that microchips do not serve as GPS’s so you will not be able to track the animal yourself. In the event that your pup or cat becomes lost and make their way to a rescue or shelter, staff will be able to scan your pet and see identifying information that will enable them to contact you.
Requiring no sedation or medication, inserting a microchip into an animal is a very simple process. No more invasive than a routine vaccination, microchips are inserted by needle and require no aftercare. Microchips are inexpensive and can be inserted during a routine checkup. It really is that easy! The only aftercare or “maintenance” needed is that you, the owner, need to keep all identifying information corresponding to the microchip up-to-date.
Out of all microchipped animals that have been rescued, the most common reason for not returning them to their owner is inaccurate information on the owner’s profile. Providing legitimate info such as phone number, address, email, name, etc. increases the likelihood that shelters and rescues will be able to find you if they recover your pet.
GPS Collars and Air Tags
Another precaution you could take is clipping a GPS tracker to the pet’s collar. Some of the dogs our pet sitters visit even wear Apple Air Tags on their collars. However, since it uses Bluetooth technology, if the lost pet is outside your cell service area when you try to ping the Air Tag from your iPhone, you’re out of luck.
There’s also the Fi GPS collar, which is certainly a good GPS solution, but you have to pay a subscription fee to unlock tracking capabilities. If you’re willing to pay for it, a position tracker is definitely the a good option if you want to know the precise location of your baby at all times.
While collars and tags are absolutely recommended and beneficial in helping a lost fur baby find their owner, their downfall is that they may fall off or the information can fade away over time. Pets who are microchipped have been found to be 20x more likely to be reunited with their owner! With minimal risks and possibly huge rewards, microchips are amazing tools that can benefit both you and your pet in case they were to go missing. Of course, the absolute safest thing to do is to take every precaution you can!
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